Matthew, trying not to set off any booby traps as archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones.

For many of us, Halloween next week will be the only time we dress up this year. But for cosplayers like Muskego personal banker Matthew Cieslak, stepping into the shoes — or boots — of a fantastic character is a more frequent proposition.

Cosplay — a portmanteau of “costume play” — has been around since at least the early 20th century in various forms. Attendees began regularly dressing up as characters from stories at science-fiction conventions in the 1940s, and the hobby started to gain mainstream popularity in the 1990s. Cosplayers might strive to replicate a character’s look with extreme accuracy, or put their own spin on it.

Matthew’s first cosplay outing was as Gideon Jura, a muscular heroic wizard from the Magic: The Gathering mythos. He got more involved after meeting his girlfriend, Elora, a year later, when a mutual friend was doing a photo shoot for her at a convention. Matthew was there as Superman — or would be (presumably once he found a phone booth).

Sensing danger in this photo shoot as Clark Kent.

“I was looking for Dan to meet up for lunch, and was still in my Clark Kent costume — rather simple, given my profession,” Matthew jokes. His very ordinary appearance led the group at the photo shoot to think he was an employee of the hotel where the convention was taking place, he says. Elora had been designing costumes for a while at that point, after being introduced to the hobby by her best friend.

Coming in for a landing to face off against Lex Luthor as Superman.

“They started off small, and through Elora’s gifted seamstress work and her friend’s creative ambition, they produced some very impressive work,” Matthew says. “She has been fortunate to meet many talented men and women in the hobby through her travels to other conventions, and she volunteered her time to theater companies to produce costumes and even made outfits for people to go to conventions.”

A full-fledged cosplayer like Elora, he notes, can invest considerable time and money in the hobby. Matthew estimates the average costume requires 20 to 30 hours of work for an experienced cosplayer putting it together themselves.

“Having skills in sewing and graphic design is certainly beneficial,” he says. “Some people do prefer to purchase their costumes ready-made — there are many people on the internet happy to take commissions.” The cost of making your own costume can vary greatly. “It could be anywhere from $50 to over $3,000.”

Hanging out with Gengar as Professor Willow.

Matthew and Elora tried to get to at least one convention per quarter before COVID-19 shut down the events in 2020 and 2021. (“It was devastating for the community,” he says.) Besides Gideon Jura and Superman, he has also cosplayed as Indiana Jones, a Númenórean from The Lord of the Rings, and Professor Willow from the Pokémon GO video game — by far his favorite costume, he says. “I like to choose outfits that are relatively comfortable to be out and about in at a convention.”

He is not working on any new costumes for the time being — just touching up and making little adjustments and improvements to existing outfits between conventions can keep a cosplayer busy, he notes. And he and Elora also put together a pair of outfits they wore at Kenosha’s Bristol Renaissance Faire this past summer.

While Elora is his main reason for attending conventions, Matthew says he obviously enjoys cosplay culture and the other people who are part of it, too. The compliments he gets don’t hurt either. “It makes you feel like a performer at Disney World when people excitedly approach you to take a photo with you,” he says.